1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component and a fabricating method thereof, and more particularly, to a multilayer ceramic electronic component having improved reliability due to a low short-circuit generation rate therein while having thin layers of 1 μm or less, and a fabricating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, multilayer ceramic electronic components using a ceramic material, such as a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric element, a varistor, a themistor, or the like, include a multilayer ceramic body configured of a plurality of ceramic layers, internal electrodes formed within the multilayer ceramic body, and external electrodes formed on surfaces of the multilayer ceramic body to be connected to the internal electrodes.
In accordance with the recent trend towards high performance and high integration in electronic devices, the demand for compact, highly integrated multilayer ceramic electronic components has increased.
Consequently, research into a compact multilayer ceramic capacitor having thin layers, high capacitance, low impedance in a high frequency region, and the like, has been actively conducted.
Generally, in order to fabricate a multilayer ceramic capacitor, ceramic green sheets are fabricated and conductive paste layers are printed on the ceramic green sheets to form internal electrode patterns thereon. Then, the ceramic green sheets having the internal electrode patterns formed thereon are stacked in amounts ranging from several tens of layers to several hundreds of layers to fabricate a green ceramic stack. Thereafter, the green ceramic stack is compressed under conditions of high temperature and high pressure to fabricate a multilayer ceramic body, and a cutting process is then performed on the multilayer ceramic body to fabricate a green chip. Then, the green chip is subjected to processes such as a bake-out process, a firing process, a polishing process, and the like, and finally external electrodes are formed thereon to complete the fabrication of the multilayer ceramic capacitor.
In order to fabricate a multilayer ceramic capacitor having ultrahigh capacitance, ceramic green sheets should be fabricated using fine barium titanate (BaTiO3) particles. When fine barium titanate particles are used therein, the content of a binder should be increased in order to secure film strength of the ceramic green sheet in a thin film, which may lead to serious deformations of the internal electrodes and thereby cause a defect in an electrode structure, a cutting defect such as short-circuit of the electrode, and the like. Accordingly, the reliability of a product may be deteriorated.